Grave was first created as a single-seat provisional electoral district ahead of the inaugural 1848 general election. Situated in the northeast of the province of North Brabant, its territory corresponded roughly to the modern municipalities of Oss, Maashorst and Land van Cuijk. It was named after the city of Grave. The district was disestablished again in 1850, with the area split between the existing districts of Den Bosch and Eindhoven, and the newly created district of Boxmeer.[1][2]
Grave in 1888
Grave was recreated as a single-seat district in 1888 out of parts of the same three districts, which were reduced from two-seat to single-seat districts. Its boundaries remained the same throughout the electoral district's existence, and were broadly similar to that of its first creation, though it lacked the area around Uden, which remained in the district of Den Bosch. The district of Grave was primarily agricultural.[1][2]
In 1848, the district had a population of 22,670. Upon its recreation in 1888, it had a population of 45,384, which would gradually increase to 48,241 in 1909. Around 97% of the population was Catholic, with the remainder being mostly Dutch Reformed.[3]
Johannes Hengst was elected in the district of Grave in the inaugural 1848 election. Though political parties did not exist at this time, Hengst is classified as a "pragmatic" liberal.
Like most districts in the Catholic south of the country, Grave was a safe seat for the Catholics, who held the seat continuously throughout its existence. Jan Harte van Tecklenburg was elected as the recreated district's first deputy in 1888, and was re-elected in subsequent elections. After the 1901 general election, he was appointed minister of finance in the Kuyper cabinet, and Wilhelmus Friesen, the mayor of Grave, was elected to succeed him in a by-election. Harte van Tecklenburg attempted to win back his seat after his ministership in 1905, but he was defeated by Dionysius Koolen, chairman of the newly founded General League of Roman Catholic Electoral Associations. Koolen continued to represent Grave until its abolition in 1918.
^ abDe Jong, Ron; Van der Kolk, Henk; Voerman, Gerrit (2011). Verkiezingen op de kaart 1848-2010: Tweede Kamerverkiezingen vanuit geografisch perspectief [Elections on the map 1848-2010: House of Representative elections from a geographic perspective] (in Dutch). Utrecht: Uitgeverij Matrijs. ISBN 9789053454374.
.jpg)
